


Destiny

by Retired_fanficwriter



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Slow Burn, cassunzel, cassunzel slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 11:47:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27970058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Retired_fanficwriter/pseuds/Retired_fanficwriter
Summary: Eugene stumbles into a room in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow. He is greeted by a woman, who shares some details about his mothers final days. He knows he can't allow Rapunzel to have the same fate as his mother, but how far is he willing to go?
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Character death.

Eugene was exploring the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow. He was not sure where the others were and this place gave him the creeps. He could have sworn he heard someone calling his name, maybe it was his friends.

He opened a door and was shocked by the bright light. Where was he? It looked like he was outside but that couldn’t be, they had already tried looking for an exit and there wasn’t one. 

“Eugene!” called a soft, feminine voice. There was something familiar about it, but he couldn’t place it. 

“Eugene, I’ve waited so long,” said a sender figure, stepping out from the shadows, “Why didn’t you come sooner?”

Was it some sort of ghost? She looked polite if she was one, and how did she know his name? He had seen too many weird things between the adventure they w0ere on and all of the usual crazy stuff in Corona to trust this. 

“Who are you and where are my friends?” he said in a demanding tone, while reaching for his blade. 

“You don’t recognize your own mother?” the ghost-woman asked. 

He wasn’t going to fall for it that easily. He shook his head and sighed, but he decided not to wield his weapon. “Yeah, right.”

“Oh, Eugene, don’t be like that,” the figure said, coming closer. 

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but you better tell me where my friends are, lady.” 

“Oh, and I will, but for now follow me, we have some catching up to do.”

He did not know why, but he decided to trust the woman. After all, if she was going to harm him she would have already. He followed her and she led him through a forest of dead trees and passed a large pond with two giant eyes peering up at him. 

This place gave him the creeps. He saw a castle ahead of him, one that looked eerily similar to the one in the scroll. Was he in the dark kingdom?

“Why did you bring me here?” he said slowly as he tried to take it all in. 

“In due time my child,” said the woman, now holding his hand. 

Rather than opening the door, they went through it. Eugene patted himself down, how was any of this possible?

He saw a large man with long, greasy hair, and the same woman who was beside him, but she wasn’t a ghost here. She looked as solid as he did. And in her arms he saw a crying baby. 

He glanced at the ghost, but she had seemingly disappeared. Instead he turned back to the two people in the room, who didn’t seem bothered by someone just walking through their walls.

“Edmund, we can’t keep going like this,” the brunette woman pleaded, patting the child and trying to calm it.

“It’s the only way,” the man said, turning his gaze away. “It’s how it’s always been.” his voice cracked slightly. 

“Is this the life we want for ourselves? For the kingdom- for our  _ son _ ?” the woman asked. 

The man sighed, and sat in a chair at a long wooden table. 

“I would do anything to protect our boy,” the man said, staring at the woman. “But I can’t do this.” 

“Edmund,  _ please _ , the kingdom is being destroyed. If we wait any longer I’m not sure there will be anything left to protect.” Eugene noticed that her eyes were starting to fill with tears. She looked at her son, who was silent now. 

“My father, and his father, and his father before him took an oath,” Edmund said. “An oath to protect the world from the Moonstone, and now I am left with the choice of whether to save our kingdom- the people responsible for protecting the world, or obey my oath.” 

Suddenly everyone disappeared, but the room was still there. Eugene felt his own heart racing. Something was drawing him to this couple, but he still was not fully convinced. He looked around, and again saw the ghost appear beside him. 

“Your father, King Edmund, meant well, but he often had trouble separating his duty to the world and his duty to his family.” She paused, and brushed a strand of Eugene's hair out of his face. “I was not so torn. I knew from the moment that you were born that I would do whatever it took to protect you.”

The room became darker and Euegen saw the more life-like version of his mother appear again. She had a hood covering her face and was running. Eugene followed her, racing to keep up. 

She entered a long room, maybe a throne room, but there was something else in the center, it looked almost like the black rocks, but it was twisted, as if to shield something. He heard the baby- himself- crying in the distance and watched as his mother turned back toward the door. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, putting her hand in. 

Eugene didn’t have the chance to see what happened next. A blinding blue light illuminated the room, and he was thrown off his feet. He sat up and saw that the entire room had been destroyed, walls had collapsed. He could no longer see his mother, but he noticed that a pile of bricks now stood where she had. He wanted to scream, he wanted to help her, but he was frozen in place, all he could do was watch for what felt like hours. He watched as the king rushed in, calling out to his wife and he watched as Adira came in to lead the king away, saying that it was too late. He also saw something change in the king's eyes. They were no longer soft, now there was something sinister beneath them. 

Eugene did not realize he was crying until the ghost returned. “My dear boy,” she said in a comforting, soft voice. “Don’t cry, after all I  _ did  _ protect you.” 

“W-Why did you show me this?” Eugene asked. 

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

Eugene collapsed, but when he expected to feel the cool stone of the castle floor, instead he felt grass. He looked around, he was outside again, but this time it was in the real world, he saw his friends huddled together, and he quickly wiped his tears away. 

“Eugene!” Rapunzel said, running to hug him. “We looked everywhere for you.” 

He did not say anything in reply, he just held her closer, sighing. He knew what had to be done, but he just hoped she would understand. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eugene locks Rapunzel out of the castle, leaving the remainder of the crew to find an alternative route inside. Eugene makes a decision.

“I’m sorry, Rapunzel, but I won’t let you in,” said Eugene, slamming the door in Rapunzel’s face. 

Cassandra could hardly believe what she was hearing. Sure Eugene made some questionable moral decisions in his past, but he had since learned. She had never expected that he would turn against Rapunzel. She glanced at Lance, who looked just as perplexed as she did. 

Cassandra watched as Rapunzel banged on the large, wooden door, begging to be let in. She heard her mumble something under her breath, but was not sure what it was. 

“Princess, listen to me, I’ve known Eugene my entire life,” started Lance, “And he has never, and I mean never, loved anyone as much as he loves you.” 

“Yeah Raps,” Cassandra said, “whatever he thinks he’s doing he must be doing it for you.” She was speaking from experience, instinctively putting her healthy hand over her injured one. 

Cassandra watched as Rapunzel came closer. “You guys are probably right, but I need to hear it from him.”

The moment didn’t last long before Adira interrupted. “We have to hurry. The king has my shadowblade and I know what he’s going to do with it, destroy the Moonstone.”

Rapunzel turned toward Pascal. “Pascal, go inside, get to Eugene and don’t let him _anywhere_ near the Moonstone. The rest of us need to look for a back entrance or something this can’t be the only way into the castle.” 

Cassandra was impressed, this was the most queen-like she had seen Rapunzel. She couldn’t show her pride for Rapunzel for too long, before the ground started to tear open, creating more of the black rocks as Rapunzel’s hair glowed bright yellow. The ground was shaking beneath their feet, and when Cassandra saw that Rapunzel had fallen, she immediately reached for her, 

“Rapunzel,” she said holding her hand. “Are you okay?”

Then, Rapunzel’s hair stopped glowing and the ground was no longer shaking. 

“Yeah,” Rapunzel started, rising to her feet, “I think we’ll be okay.”

Then, the ground again started to shake, except this time they were falling down. Cassandra reached up, trying to grab a hold of one of the black rocks, or a stone, but she grabbed Rapunzel’s hand again. 

“Great,” Cassandra said, looking down. “We’re in a sewer filled with lava.” She was really starting to regret wearing the heavy armour. 

“Well good news,” Adira interrupted. “This will lead us into the castle.” Cassandra hated that smug tone, but she knew that Adira was no threat and that they should trust her. 

“Lava sewer it is then,” Rapunzel said. 

They had been walking for half an hour when Rapunzel’s hair again started to glow. Cassandra hoped it would just act as a light, but they were not so lucky, the stones started to break through the walls, ceiling and bottom of the lava sewer. Cassandra had to leap to move Lance out of the way. 

She saw that the cavern was starting to collapse. “I’m not sure how much longer we can survive down here,” she said. 

Lance, in a higher voice than normal, said, “I’m gonna go with not much longer.”

“We’ll have to turn back, and find another way,” said Adira. Before anyone could process what she was saying more black rocks started to appear behind them. 

Cassandra tried to run back, and Adira followed. She saw a wall of black rocks now covered the tunnel that they had been using, blocking them in. “We’re trapped!” 

“No,” Rapunzel said. Cassandra turned to see that Rapunzel was standing on what looked like a floor, but it was the rocks. “The rocks are leading us toward the moonstone,” Rapunzel said. 

* * *

Eugene heard a door opening, and looked around, at first he didn’t notice it, but then, he saw a very angry looking Pascal walking toward him. 

“Pascal?” he asked. 

Pascal gave his characteristic squeak in reply, before turning red. “Are you okay frog?”

“Look, I know you’re mad at me,” Eugene said, “But I have my reasons….”

Maybe Pascal could hear the lump in his throat because he went back to his characteristic green colour. Eugene picked up his tiny friend. 

“The last time someone,” he paused, “-The last time someone tried to destroy the moonstone there was a horrible accident, and my mother-” he couldn’t finish the sentence. He looked at Pascal who seemed to understand and was patting his gloved thumb with his small frog hand. “I just can’t let that happen to Rapunzel.” 

Pascal crawled onto Eugene’s shoulder, and then down his chest and torso until he reached his satchel. He climbed in and dug out the piece of paper. He handed it to Eugene, and even though he already knew what it said he had to read it. 

_At the end of Rapunzel’s journey one of her party shall turn against her._

He signed, staring at the paper. Then, much to Pascal’s surprise he crumpled it up and threw it down. “I’m sorry,” he said to Pascal, who had his mouth open in shock. Eugene picked Pascal up with one hand and set him on the ground before walking into another room.

* * *

Finally they reached the top of the cavern, they stepped into the castle, one at a time, hiding behind the rocks and décor as they did so. 

Cassandra could hear someone, who she assumed was the king, talking to himself, or maybe a statue, but she could not make out the words clearly enough. 

In her crouched position she tried to get closer to the princess, it was still her job to protect her after all. 

“The moonstone chamber is just past that hall,” Adira whispered. 

“I’ll need a distraction so I can slip in there,” said Rapunzel. 

“I’m not letting you go in there alone, who knows what’s in there,” Cassandra said, concerned.

“Rapunzel should go in there alone! Only the sundrop can access the moonstones power,” Adira countered. 

Honestly who did she think she was? Cassandra knew Rapunzel better than anybody, and she knew that Rapunzel shouldn’t go in there alone, especially in this state of mind. She gritted her teeth, if Rapunzel chose to side with Adira over her she wasn’t sure she would be able to forgive her for everything that happened. 

“Cass and I will go,” Rapunzel said. Cassandra knew that it was not the princess who was angry about the previous events, but it still felt nice to hear her use the friendly nickname, as if it was Rapunzel saying that she still cared about her. “Adira, you and Lane will go together and run interference with the king so we can slip by.”

All four of them huddled around the large doors, and Rapunzel started to count down from three. She didn’t get the chance to finish however, when she said “two,” the king threw an axe toward them. Cassandra dragged the princess closer to her to prevent her from getting hit, letting out a small gasp as she did so. 

“You will not be so lucky the next time,” the king said. “You were warned to stay away!”

“Edmund,” Adira said in a calm voice. 

“I have nothing to say to _you_.” 

Before Cassandra could think of any way to get passed the king Lance charged toward him, but stopped when he ran into the king’s armour. The king then pushed Lance so hard that she was flung across the room and crashed into a suit of armour. 

Cassandra had to admit for someone who was clearly not all there he was a great fighter. She didn’t let that discourage her from charging toward him. She met the same fate that Lance did and did not have time to brace herself for impact before her head hit the ground and then the world became black. 

She was only out for a few seconds, but when she awoke the stabbing pain in her head, not to mention the damaged nerves in her hand were too much for her to focus immediately. She saw Rapunzel’s hair was glowing and she was begging King Edmund to let her near the Moonstone. 

“You’re not getting past me,” the king said, towering over Rapunzel. 

Cassandra was starting to get to her feet, and she could hear foot steps getting closer. 

“Stop!” The voice belonged to Fitzherbert. 

“Son, you know as well as I do that the moonstone must be destroyed!” Said King Edmund. 

Cassandra was shocked, _son._ Well, that explained a lot. 

“ _Finally!”_ said Lance, “You’ve been adopted.” 

“I’ll fill you in later,” Eugene said, “but for now we have to get to that moonstone.”

Cassandra noticed that he shared a knowing glance with the king- his father. She had a bad feeling about this, something seemed off about Fitzherbert- more so than usual. She shrugged it off, it was probably the fact that he found out King Edmund was his father. 

“Lance, buddy, why don’t you and Adira watch the door while we go on ahead,” Eugene said. 

Lance and Adira obliged, and opened the large doors for Cassandra, Eugene, and Rapunzel to go through. 

* * *

Finally, Eugene was in the moonstone chamber room. It looked exactly how he had remembered it. The floor was badly damaged, to the point that the only part remaining was just below them, in the entranceway and across the room, holding up the moonstone itself. 

He was trying to think of a way to get over when he saw that Rapunzel’s hair was glowing gold, and the balck rocks started to become angled so that they formed a bridge toward the moonstone. 

Rapunzel took the first steps on the bridge, her hair now completely in the air. Eugene and Cassandra were close behind, careful about where they were stepping. When they got to the opposite side Rapunzel turned back to gaze at Cassandra. She turned and walked toward her, leaving Eugene directly in front of the moonstone. 

This was his chance, more than that it was his destiny. He knew he had to take the moonstone, he wouldn’t let what happened to his mother happen to Rapunzel, or anyone else. He just hoped that someday she would be able to understand. 

“I know things haven’t been easy for us,” Rapunzel said, getting closer to Cassandra and holding her hands. “And I want to thank you, for everything.” He watched as Rapunzel pulled Cassandra into a hug. 

“Now go get your destiny,” Cassandra urged. For a moment he forgot that Cassandra was talking to the princess. 

She walked closer to the moonstone, and it started to rise, the closer she got, the more it rose from its stone case. 

Eugene followed closely behind, but not so close as to concern Cassandra. Then, when Rapunzel was only inches away from the stone he jumped between them, and took the stone for himself. 

“Eugene, what is going on?!” Rapunzel yelled.

“I’m sorry, Blondie,” Eugene said, holding the moonstone tighter. 

He watched as both girls were pushed back toward the entrance. He could feel energy coursing through him, and he watched as his clothes started to transform. No longer were the navy blue and gray that he had put on in the morning, now they were more of a royal blue and black. He didn’t know what was happening, when he watched the memory of his mother none of this had happened. He also felt something else come over him, something more sinister. 

Eugene had never yelled at Rapunzel before, he could never have. Yet something came over him and he couldn’t help it, “ _Get out!”_ he screamed, as more black rocks started to appear around him. 

* * *

Cassandra knew this wasn’t Eugene’s normal behaviour. He would never hurt Rapunzel intentionally, she knew because she felt the same way about her. 

“Eugene, _please_ ,” Rapunzel pleaded. “Let us know what happened, we- we can help!” 

Cassandra knew that Rapunzel was holding back tears, and it killed her to see her like this. 

“Like I said. Get. Out,” Eugene repeated, more demandingly this time. 

“Not so fast Fitzherbert,” Cassandra said. “You at least owe us an explanation.” 

Much to her surprise Eugene listened to what Cassandra said. He explained that while they were at the House of Yesterday’s tomorrow he stumbled into a room which led him to this castle, and that he witnessed the destruction that the stone had caused, and how it killed his mother. Something still wasn’t adding up in Cassandra’s mind. 

“You saw all of this, at the house of Yesterday’s Tomorrow? Why wouldn’t you tell us?” Rapunzel asked. She started walking toward him

“ _Why?”_ Eugene asked. “Because you wouldn’t have listened to me. You never cared about my feelings, you didn’t even notice that anything changed!” 

Cassandra had never wanted to _actually_ inflict pain on Eugene, that is until this moment. Still, she was sure that he must have been controlled by someone else, she knew who he was and he was a lot of things but _this_ was not one of them. 

“You should know that this is my density,” Rapunzel said, in a calmer voice, still trying to get closer to him. 

“I’m not doing this to hurt you…” Eugene said, softer this time. “I’m doing this to protect you.” 

For a moment Cassandra saw a sadness in his eyes. Maybe the real Eugene was in there, just hidden beneath whatever, _whoever,_ this was. 

“Don’t make me tell you to get out _again,_ ” Eugene said, getting louder with each word. Then, she watched as more black rocks appeared, causing Rapunzel to be pushed back. He looked almost scared. 

Cassandra quickly made sure Rapunzel was alright, she helped her to her feet. Then , she charged toward Eugene, pulling out her blade as she did so. It may have been useless against the rocks, but surely it would still work on him. 

She jumped over the stones, and held the sword to him. “Come on Fitzherbert, snap out of it. This isn’t the real you.” 

There was some sort of energy preventing the blade from damaging him, she watched as blue sparks flew up from where his skin and her blade were touching. 

“Maybe…” he started, struggling as much as she was, “ _it is!”_

Cassandra was then thrown across the room, and she heard her blade break into pieces as it happened. 

She saw Eugene run toward the door, ignoring Rapunzel as he did so. Rapunzel and Cassandra followed him. 

“Hey, nice hair!” Lance said as they ran past him. 

They went further down the hall, and he was too far ahead of the pair for them to catch up. 

“Rapunzel…” Cassandra said, out of breath. “We can’t catch up to him, we have to let him go.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the fan theory that part of why Cassandra acted the way she did in the animated series was because she was under control of the moonstone or Zhan Tiri. I'm leaning toward doing that with this series, and possibly going a bit more into it.


End file.
